by
Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)
Life has loveliness to sell
Language: English
Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things;
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up,
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell;
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And, for [the]1 Spirit's still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
[Give]2 all you have for loveliness;
Buy it, and never count the cost!
For one white, singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife well lost;
And for a breath of ecstasy,
Give all you have been, or could be.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with Sara Teasdale, Love Songs, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1917, page 3.
1 Hall: "your"
2 Bachlund, Hall: "Spend"
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Barter", 2010 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Henry Leland Clarke (1907 - 1992), "Life has loveliness to sell" [ unison chorus and piano ], antiphonal [sung text not yet checked]
- by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "Barter", 2015, copyright © 2017, first performed 2016 [ vocal duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano with piano ], from Music like a curve of gold, no. 1, E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Inc., a division of ECS Publishing Group [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Simon Sargon (b. 1938), "Barter", 1988 [ voice and piano ], from Let it be you, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-02-13
Line count: 18
Word count: 113
La vie a de la beauté à vendre
Language: French (Français) after the English
La vie a de la beauté à vendre,
Beaucoup de belles et splendides choses ;
Vagues bleues blanchies sur une falaise,
Feu jaillissant qui se balance et chante,
Et les yeux levés des enfants
Emplis d'émerveillement comme une coupe.
La vie a de la beauté à vendre ;
Ma musique comme une courbe d'or
L'odeur des pins sous la pluie,
Des yeux qui vous aiment, des bras qui soutiennent,
Et, pour le délice silencieux de l'Esprit,
De saintes pensées qui étoilent la nuit.
Donnez tout ce que vous avez pour la beauté,
Achetez-la, et n'en mesurez jamais le coût !
Car une heure de paix blanche et chantante
Vaut bien des années perdues en combats ;
Et pour un frisson d'extase,
Donnez tout ce que vous avez été ou pu être.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Barter" = "Troc"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2015-10-13
Line count: 18
Word count: 127